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June 20, 2011

G72: Red Sox 14, Padres 5

Miller (5.2-7-3-3-6, 89) pitched five scoreless innings, but stumbled in the sixth. After a single, walk, and strikeout, Orlando Hudson hit his first home run of the season into the Monster Seats and the game was suddenly tied at 3-3.

The last time the Red Sox scored 10 or more runs in an inning was May 7, 2009, when they scored 12 runs in the sixth inning against Cleveland. They scored all 12 runs before making an out, setting a new American League record and tying the MLB record. (The Tigers scored 11 runs without making an out against the Yankees on June 17, 1925, and the Dodgers scored 12 times before making an out against the Phillies on May 24, 1953.)

Tonight, seven of the nine batters in the starting lineup had at least one hit, one run, and one RBI.

The Red Sox also continued their first-inning torment of starting pitchers. In the last five games, Boston batters have seen a total of 175 pitches in their first time at bat (33, 44, 13, 46, 39).

Miller, 26, was a first round pick of the Tigers in the 2006 amateur draft (6th pick overall). He signed on August 8, 2006, and made his major league debut 22 days later. Miller had a 5.69 ERA in parts of two seasons with Detroit and was traded to the Marlins (as part of the Miguel Cabrera deal) after the 2007 season. He had a 5.89 ERA with the Fish in 2008-10. Boston acquired Miller last November.

Miller has always walked too many batters, but in his last three starts for Pawtucket, he issued only one walk while striking out 22. Maybe he figured something out, or maybe it's simply a fluke. (In May, however, he walked 22 and fanned 27.) Or maybe it's because of his new pre-game routine:

I go out with [pitching coach] Rich Sauveur maybe 10 or 15 minutes earlier than most guys would and get loose like you would before the game. Then I sit down with Rich and the catcher and do a mini half-inning where we sit down for 4 or 5 minutes and talk and maybe go over the lineup a little bit. Then I get up and try to simulate game speed and simulate hitters and maybe work out some kinks that generally I've had to battle in the first inning. By the time I go out and pitch in the real first inning, it feels like it would in the second or third inning. So far it's been great. I think it's accomplished everything we were hoping it would, and I've gone out there and felt aggressive and in the zone to start the game.

LeBlanc, who is also 26 and also a lefty, has made two starts this season: April 24 against the Phillies and June 14 against the Rockies. He was recalled from Tucson (AAA) last week when Aaron Harang went on the disabled list.

The Red Sox have played three three-game series against the Padres. In each series, Boston won the first and third games, while dropping the second.

June 18-20, 2002 at San Diego: 4-2, 2-3, 5-0
June 8-10, 2004 at Boston: 1-0, 1-8, 9-3
June 22-24, 2007 at San Diego: 2-1, 1-6, 4-2

AL East: Yankees/Reds at 7 PM; Rays/Brewers at 8 PM. (Not that you asked, but the Red Sox's magic number for clinching the division is 91.)

They showed The Steal on the video board between innings, prompting a standing ovation for Roberts. Seeing his reaction to the ovation gave me chills, and I didn't even see whatever the tribute was. <3 Dave Roberts.

Perhaps this is why I got so mad at the kids behind me at a game last year who didn't know who Bill Mueller was. Without Mueller's hit, no one would remember Roberts' steal.

Easiest job in baseball this month - being a pitcher on the Boston Red Sox. 8 runs or more, (often quite a bit more) in 8 of the last 15 games. And the other 7.....2 6-run games, 1 5-run, 1 4-run, and 1 3-run game. Only 2 games with 2 runs or less. Yee-fucking-ha!